Timing Is Everything Mastering the art of the back-to-school pricing wars

Timing Is Everything Mastering the art of the back-to-school pricing wars

As one of my all-time favorite commercials would gleefully say: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year: The kids are going back to school!”

If the thought of a quieter house makes you smile, but the thought of back-to-school shopping erases that smile, you’re not alone. Consumer confidence is down (in part because of higher gas prices); back-to-school spending will be down (in part because of the higher payroll taxes, according to the National Retail Federation); and shoppers are saying that they’re looking to cut corners wherever they can. As a result of this, retailers say they are ordering inventory conservatively—meaning that the blowout deals of 2012’s back-to-school season won’t be making a reappearance this year.

The good news is that there are still deals to be had; nabbing them just comes down to timing. As several sources told me, 2013 is not the year to buy every back-to-school item in one shopping trip. If you want the best prices, you’ll need to be strategic. Here’s how to maximize your timeline:

What to buy now: Between now and Labor Day, look for shoes, clothes and dorm refrigerators. “If you’re a parent and you want to get the deals on denim, sneakers and even long-sleeved shirts, now is the perfect time to look at those kinds of promotions on clothing,” said Kathy Grannis, senior director of media relations for the National Retail Federation. “Early fall is when retailers have to go back to full-price inventory. Full-priced clothes will start hitting shelves not long after Labor Day.”

Shauna Causey, vice president of marketing for price-tracking website Decide.com, echoed this and noted that families can save up to 25 percent on kids’ clothing and shoes (compared with what these items sell for during the rest of the year). However, she cautioned parents that clothing prices do start to return to normal levels around mid-August, so if you want to ensure you get the lowest clothing prices, it’s best not to wait until the last week of August. Dorm refrigerators, on the other hand, will retail for about 20 percent off their normal price for the entire month of August.

What to buy later: If your laptop, backpack and small TV (32-inch or smaller) still have some life left in them, hold off on buying replacements for a month or two. Laptops, Causey says, see their best prices the last two weeks of September and then again during the last two weeks of December. “The savings is around 10 percent, or about $240 depending on what kind of laptop you’re looking at,” she said.

As for backpacks and small TVs, Causey said prices spike during peak back-to-school season (now), but drop back down in late fall. Waiting until November to replace a backpack will save you 25 percent, and waiting until October and November to replace a dorm TV will save you 12 percent, or an average of $45.

What to know before you go: According to Huntington Bank’s annual Backpack Index, school supplies will cost 7.3 percent more this year than they did in 2012, significantly outpacing inflation. This applies to all supplies, but Maureen Brown, a developer for the Index, said that graphing calculators, Post-it notes and three-hole punches were the worst offenders. Graphing calculators are up $10, retailing for an average of $119.99; a pack of Post-it notes is up $4, retailing for an average of $7.99; three-hole punches are up $7, retailing for an average of $10.99. Given these increases, Brown suggests reusing ones from last year—or, at the very least, limiting your intake this year.

“Does every one of your children need a three-hole punch? Maybe you just need one at home,” she said. As for Post-it notes, she said, “Can you just buy one pack and share it with your kids?”

Finally, when in doubt, revisit last year’s inventory—that is, the inventory in your house. “Notebooks never go out of date,” Mitch Lipka, editor of TheConsumerChronicle.com, said in an email. “If you stocked up on all the notebooks deals offered last year, you should still have plenty around.”

— With Maggie McGrath

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Jean Chatzky is a leading personal finance expert, award-winning journalist and best-selling author. She is also the financial editor for NBC’s Today show and runs HerMoney, a site and podcast focused on women's relationships with money.